Barrow County, GA Noise Ordinances: Leaf Blower Rules (2026)

Section 58-4 is the county's general noise ordinance, and subsection (b)(9) singles out blowers and motors: operating any noise-creating blower, power fan, or internal-combustion engine that produces noise from exploding gases or fluids is prohibited unless the noise is muffled through a device specifically designed for that engine type, not adapted, altered, or make-shift, and reasonably sufficient to muffle the engine. The section's general definitions matter here too: 'noise' is any sound excessive enough to disrupt reasonable people, and sound plainly audible from 50 feet away is presumed to be a violation, so an unmuffled backpack or wheeled blower heard from across a yard already meets the county's evidentiary bar.

Unlike the separate construction-noise rule at (b)(6), the blower provision carries no daytime-only window; it applies around the clock on public and private property alike, in residential, commercial, agricultural, and industrial areas. The exceptions in subsection (c) are narrow: county vehicles on public business, approved daytime construction noise, organized school or county-authorized events, emergency work, and properly zoned farm operations. Anyone who wants relief beyond that can apply to the director of license and permits for a special variance under (d), which the board of commissioners grants or denies after notice to nearby property owners. Enforcement falls to Barrow County law enforcement personnel, and the Magistrate Court of Barrow County has jurisdiction to try the offense under subsection (f).